1. Field of the Invention
The invention is in the field of hand rails and grab bars. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a grab bar which is particularly suitable for mounting in a vertical orientation and for use in institutions, such as, for example, behavioral health and psychiatric facilities or prisons, due to its ligature-resistant structure.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
It is known in the art to provide grab bars or hand rails for use in various facilities which a patient can grab on to in order to prevent them from slipping or falling. However, in particular institutional facilities, such as, behavioral health facilities, psychiatric facilities or prisons, it is desirable to install ligature-resistant grab bars, which are resistant to a patient or inmate from placing a tie over the grab bar to hang themselves or cause other self-harm using the grab bar. Therefore, it is desirable to provide grab bars having a structure that is resistant to the risks of suicides and self-harm because a tie which is placed or tied to it would slip off the grab bar and is also prevented from being placed around or behind the grab bar.
It is known to provide for ligature-resistant grab bars, commonly referred to as “security” grab bars, such as that described in the inventor's prior U.S. Pat. No. 7,373,694, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. However, these prior art grab bars should only be installed horizontally. If installed vertically, their chirality (i.e., handedness) becomes an issue. In other words, they are suitable for gripping with either the user's right hand or left hand, but not both. Therefore, a problem arises that when a patient/inmate who may be beginning to fall, grabs for the bar with the wrong hand, the ligature resistant structure of the bar prevents him or her from attaining a grip around the bar. In addition, these grab bars may be ligature-resistant when mounted horizontally, but not if mounted vertically.
Therefore, there is a need for a ligature-resistant grab bar which can be installed vertically on a wall and which can be gripped with either the user's right hand or the left hand, therefore, increasing the patient/inmate's safety. While the prior art discloses many types of handrails and grab bars, so far as is known, none of these grab bars or handrails, resolve these problems in a simple, effective and highly advantageous manner, as in the present invention.